Altera looked up, yet her eyes remained unfocused, staring at the ceiling. “I should have protected you, should have guided you. But I failed. I killed you.” She chuckled, and tears ran down her face. “I killed you.”

"What are you talking about?”

A door materialized, and Eric stepped out. His eyes had become weary, and the bags under them sunk them into his skull. He walked to them. Every step weighted, trying to keep him from falling over.

One look sufficed to know that Eric wanted to leave the tower and put the trials behind him.

Eric's eyes latched onto them. His body stiffened at once. “W...What’s going on?”

“Altera…” Ragna glanced at her friend. She took a deep breath and faced Eric. "She tried to kill herself."

Eric’s mouth fell. He glanced at Altera as well. She looked at the ground and let her head hang, revealing her bare neck.

“Fuck.” He looked back at Ragna.

Without an answer, Ragna nodded and sat next to Altera.

What should she do? How should she talk to Altera? If she screamed at her, wouldn’t she worsen the situation? The moment she left Altera alone, she might try again.

“What happened?” Ragna took her hand and let her finger brush over it. Altera turned her head to Ragna.

“I...I killed you.”

“You killed me?”

Did something happen during her and Eric's mission?

“It wasn’t real,” Eric said. “No one died.”

Altera shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I killed you because I was jealous. You were going to abandon me, and I snapped.”

Ragna prevented her body from reacting. She couldn’t show surprise or fear. Even if it sounded patronizing, she had to treat Altera with velvet gloves. Not that she could blame Alers for killing her in the simulation since she had done the same.

“That was just a fake. I would never leave you.”

“I told that myself many times. I tried to ignore the voices, all the hints. But it’s true. We’re too different. Why would you want to be my friend? I failed at everything. It was my job to watch over you, but I couldn’t guide you. And you’re falling further down a dark path. I tried to save you, but you dragged me with you. I can’t be a Valkyrie anymore. I’m selfish, ugly, and everyone will hate me. They should hate me.”

Ragna's hand trembled, and the urge to scream increased inside her.

After all the hardships they had endured, Altera didn’t consider her an equal or a friend? She had proven her friendship multiple times, but Altera still had doubts.

Ragna exhaled. The trembling stopped, and she suppressed any further reaction. This wasn’t the time. She had to support Altera and keep her alive.

“I’ll be honest. It pisses me off that you still don’t see me as a friend. And you still look down on me. Didn’t we make a promise? I don’t need your protection.”

“I…I…”

“But we’ll discuss this later." Ragna covered Altera's hands with hers and held them up. "Why should I care if you’re a Valkyrie or not? I care about you. Not some stupid rank.”

“She was going to sacrifice me for the chance of saving you,” Eric added.

“Why would anyone be my friend? Being a Valkyrie was all I had. Without that, I’ve lost every right to live. No one will ever like me.”

“You’re really dense. It’s obvious I wanna spend my future with you.”

Ragna stopped herself and removed her hands from Altera's. A crimson glimmer flashed across Ragna's face.

What did she say? Oh, Twice, Altera could misinterpret her words.

Eric arched his eyebrow, and Jareth, who observed the discussion in silence from a distance, tilted his head.

“We both want to stay your friends, and we both wanna help you," Ragna added immediately. "But for that, you gotta tell us what’s wrong with you. You’ve been acting weird since we entered the tower. And your behavior’s getting worse.”

Altera looked to the ceiling and played with her fingers.

“I...I don’t want to talk about it, but we’re past that, I think.” Altera took a deep breath and looked at them. Her body became stiff, her lips started to tremble, and she clutched her hands against her chest. “I have Bipolar Disorder.”

Neither Eric nor Ragna answered.

What could they say? That they felt sorry, or why she didn’t tell before, or how the confession explained Altera’s behavior? Yet, staying silent shouldn’t be their response.

“I’ve no idea what to say.” Ragna took one of Altera's hands, enveloped it in her own, and rested her head on her shoulder. “So, I'll listen to you. Don’t think about right or wrong. Just say what comes to your mind.”

“Will you be here for me? You won’t leave me behind because I could become a burden.”

“Why would we?” Eric asked. “After everything, you still think we’re not friends? What else do we have to do? Honestly, I’m outta ideas. You want us to sacrifice our lives till it sticks?”

“You think I don’t know that?” Altera raised her voice. “I want to believe you. Every day I try. I tell myself that you’re my friends. I tell myself that everything's fine, and that I should be happy. But these voices always say these are lies. No matter what I do, they keep coming back. Even when I’m happy when there’s no reason to be upset, they whisper to me, give me a thousand reasons to make me unhappy, to fear the future.”

“I’m sorry.” Eric looked away, and Ragna glared at him.

“There are times when I can’t move out of my bed. I lay there, the clock moves. It’s still noon, then four, and I still haven’t moved. I feel so, so drained. Everything’s cold, and I hate myself. There are days where I don’t want to live. I just want to die because why should anything matter? I’m nothing. And I start to hate myself more because I’m so selfish. I worry my parents about my behavior. I’ve it so good in my life, and how do I thank them?" Altera keckled. "By being miserable all the time. I’m selfish for wanting to die, for not thinking about others, about the pain I’ll cause them. I don’t deserve to be happy. I don’t deserve friends, and I don’t deserve to live.”

Altera took a breath. She looked at Eric and Ragna. Both of them were quiet. They would let Altera talk to her heart’s content, and so Altera continued.

"And then, there are moments when I feel great. There’s nothing I can’t do. I could win wars, bring world peace, and end poverty and world hunger. I’m the strongest, most beautiful goddess in the world. My abilities increase, and I become creative. I create sculptures and paintings and come up with amazing battle tactics. I’m so happy I could jump in joy. There’s so much in this world to enjoy.”

Altera took another breath and gulped. “And then, there’s what you saw here in this tower. It’s always like this. First, I’m depressed, then I’m ecstatic, and then I become a train wreck. But it was never as bad as this. I don’t know what happened, but this tower made me more extreme.”

“All the Mana here must be messing with the chemical balance of your brain," Eric said. "Not sure if I’m allowed to say that, but maybe you should take some medication.”

No.” Altera shook her head multiple times. “Nononono. No medication. I hate it. All my life gets sucked out. Without it, I may go insane, but at least I can be happy. When I’m on medication, often, I feel like some undead creature. I’m sloppier. My reaction time slows down. I can’t focus, and my abilities get weaker. I would have a more powerful Fylgja had I not been on medication. If I wanted to make it through this, I had to stop taking my medicine.”

"So, for your Bragi, you went off your medication." Ragna tightened her hold over Altera’s hand. "Was it worth it?"

"What choice did I have? Quin's right. When I was on medication, I was weaker. As much as I hate it, my disorder makes me stronger. How can I become a Valkyrie if I can't even get out of bed? Valkyries are perfect; I had to be perfect. For the Bragi to become a success, I had to take the risk."

“Look at what happened. You crashed. Watching you here, it hurt.” Tears built up in Ragna's eyes. “I don’t want to see you like this. I want you to be happy. But right now, I’m scared. If I don’t keep an eye on you, what will happen? Will you kill yourself? Will you make some stupid decision that you will regret? If being a Valkyrie means that you have be like this, then please stop.”

“And then, what? What else is there in my life? If I’m not a Valkyrie, I might as well be dead. No one likes me. I’m a freak. My brain’s a mess, and I don’t have any talents. If I became a Valkyrie, maybe I could have something in my life. It was the only way out. But of course, it couldn’t work like that because nothing will ever be good." She looked at Ragna. "I don’t know how you do it? How can you still walk every day? Do you still want to be a Valkyrie?”

“I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what I am, and I don’t know what I’ll become. I can only hope that in the end, we’ll be happy. There’s so much wrong with this world, with us, and everyone else. I don’t even know where to start. If it weren't for you, I couldn’t have made it. I'm so sick of this journey, but I’m glad I met you guys.”

Eric put her hand on Altera's shoulder. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't know what was going on, but you need your medicine, and you need to see a doctor. Forget the Bragi. We're worried about your mental health."

Altera shook her head. "Don't. Part of it was the illness, but part of it was me. Even without my Bipolar Disorder, I'm a bundle of issues." She exhaled. "You're right. I need therapy, but I can't stop my Bragi. My dreams are too important for that."

"So, now what?"

Ragna stood up. “We keep moving on and make the best out of it. That's the situation. We can’t go back, and we can’t stay. So, there’s only one way left. And we walk together.”

֎

Ragna's group entered the eighth and final floor. The wind was blowing through the open area. Outside the tower’s edges grew the geometrical abomination that consumed this realm’s sky. And the albatross soared through it. Symbols danced in the air, forming into arrays of strings.

In the room’s center, Geißel and Quin lounged on two thrones that looked too modern. Quin had crossed her arms and legs while Geißel leaned back, rested his head on his arm, and put one foot up. Next to Quin, Nephthys hopped and grinned.

The tower buzzed and disappeared like the static of a television with no signal. For one moment, it resembled a solid mass, then zig-zag patterns ran through it, and it lost its saturation.

Geißel looked down on Ragna’s party and frowned. “So, you've reached the final level.” His eyes switched to Jareth. “And you failed. You know what that means.”

“I’m afraid this won’t be possible. I’m part of the gang now.”

“You’re responsible for this.” He pointed at Ragna. “I admit, you’re not the brat Drake Griffin talked about for hours and hours." He shook his head. "No, you’re a disease, and it’s time I keep you from infecting my little sister.”

Ragna grinned. “You failed eight times already. Why should this be different.”

“Because you can’t win this time.”

“The eighth level is indeed different from the others,” Quin said. “So, please listen as I explain the rules. You’re going to play in a theater play called “Fall of man”. To give you a brief synopsis of the plot: The play is about a woman, Eve, living in the paradisical garden Eden alongside her husband, Adam. There they live under an anonymous god who tasks them to tend the garden. They can do whatever they want, except for one thing: Eating from the fruit of knowledge between good and evil. But a snake tempts Eve into eating the fruit, and Eve, in turn, tempts Adam. Once that god finds out, he banishes Adam and Eve from Eden and condemns them to a life of hardships and suffering and death.”

“That sounds weird,” Ragna said. “Who the Hel wrote that?”

“The tower."

"What? Seriously?"

"Besides the four characters I named, there are also the three archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, who witness the events of the drama. We all will assume the roles of the characters I’ve named, and to fulfill the task, you must turn the tragedy into a happy end. While you can influence what they do and say, you cannot influence the events themselves. You cannot rewrite the play. The snake will tempt Eve. Adam and Eve will eat the forbidden fruit, and the anonymous god will cast them out of paradise.”

“Wait…” Ragna widened her eyes. “If we can’t change the end, how can we win?”

“You can’t.” Geißel grinned like an idiot from one cheek to the other. “You can’t change the outcome. There’s no point in fighting fate itself because your destiny’s to fail.”